Hikayat Abi l-Qasim al-Baghdadi

The Hikaya Abi l-Qasim al-Baghdadi was written by Muhammad b. Ahmad Abu l-Mutahhar al-Azdi, who depicts in it a Baghdad type of canting parasite, Abu l-Qasim. The encyclopaedia's entry, signed by J. Horovitz, dates the book to the first half of the fifth/eleventh century and says that it claims to relate faithfully one day in the life of its hero. ¹

The hero gets a hearing at a banquet among a company of guests, with pious eloquence, rails at the guests and the host, and shows his command of language in a long comparison of the advantages of Baghdad and Isfahan. Between the courses his remarks go on. When the wine goes to his head he becomes importunate and vulgar, and when he has drunk more deeply and falls, the intoxication over, he plays the devout believer again. The author, drawn by his philological interests, weaves into this frame much of his knowledge of adab, the terms of the trades, and erotic poetry, quoting many verses of Ibn al-Hajjaj. The article says that the realism of the description and the unity of the tale both suffer. ¹